What type of training do the shipyard welders go through before they actually get to weld on a ship. Do they just show up and test like the rest of the civilian construction or do they go through training to familarize them with the applicable codes and standards.
I often thought they must have went through some GREAT training because when I was active duty, we (shop 26A on the tender) would build a glovebag, cutout a 1" CHV, prep it, fit, weld it, rt it, decon it, and insulate it all in 3-4 12 hour shifts. PSNS would come over to Holy Loch, on another boat same class, same valve number, and do the same job in 7 or 8 shifts and we would still remove interference, provide radcon, and lag it. I figured we must have been missing out on some critical steps that they hadn't covered in the 30 weeks of school we went through.
We did an socket weld in the RC in 3 shifts. I watched a shipyard inspector burnout his exposure for the quarter inspecting the finals on the socket weld only to come out of the RC and say someone else would have to do the final since he didn't have a fillet weld gage. He brought the PT kit but didn't PT it since he couldn't do the VT. Another shipyard worker had to come down while I had to stay on as control point watch makin my 3 per hour. That was their 5th or beginning of 6th shift for the same valve, different boat.
So I figured since the shipyard guys were making 20+ an hour back in the mid 80's and I was making about 3.00 an hour, they musta really known something.
I am sure things are different now. I understand the Navy Nuc Welder program is no more for Active Duty people. I imagine it is due to the efficiency of the shipyard people. I have quite a few memories of interaction with some of the shipyard welders . At that time, they worked at a different pace then we did. Most were VERY slick welders. They just semed to have a different work ethic than active duty welders. The fitter and two welders with a helper on a 4" Seawater Valve always tickled me. We tied it back with spanish windlasses and went to cuttin, take it to 31A for machining and new seats, carried it back to the boat, prepped it, fit it, welded it, and routed the subsafe package for closing. All with two people. Sometimes the SAME two people that had been up since 5 am the day before.
I hope your not the editor of that book you use for your name ! I went through a NR audit and the guy who was talking to me asking me questions about it was bothered that I answered the questions without looking them up. I asked him if he thought I was wrong and he indicated it was the fact that I answered the questions without looking them up. I asked him how he knew if I was right wrong without looking it up. He quickly told me he was the Editor.
OK enough sea stories, I'd be interested in hearing how it is now since my view is from 20 years ago. Civilian or Active Duty experiences from more current times would be interesting. Any current Active Duty 4955's or 56's here or shipyard welders. Whats the training like now ?
"16 empty tubes, a mushroom cloud, and its miller time" was one of the things I remember from Bremerton, besides the "Red Rooster". Of course the guy making 20+ an hour to JUST sharpen tungsten was something to recall. Mirror finished, PT'd and ready to bury in some mirror welded HPD spitting out water while your trying to close it up.
Have a good one.
Gerald Austin
Q: What type of training do the shipyard welders go through before they actually get to weld on a ship
A: they just show up and test like the rest of the civilian construction and they go through training to familarize them with the applicable codes and standards. thats basic structural though, hangers, coamings and other silly bull ****. you have to prove yourself before they send you to the SUBSAFE class or let you do UT/RT work. and nuc is a whole different world all hand picked very slick welders.
getting selected to actually come in and take the test is the hard part. There are thousands of resume's in the database.
Top step pipe welders make 29 somethin now.
the only thing i ever edited was my last post ... and maybe this one too if i screw it up.
Thanks for the info. Its kinda weird but I remember more about the six years working on boats than most everything else.
It sounds like there no welder shortage there .
There is indeed a shortage of welders here at PSNS thats why I decided to reply to mtwelders thread. Now is probably the best time there has been in the past 10 years to try and hire in. Something like 30 % of shop 26 (and others) are retiring in the next 5-10 years. The average age journeyman in my shop is like 45 or something. They hired a bunch of people in the late 80s early 90s and then very few people from the mid 90s to around 2001. Attrition is a big problem not only here but all over this country The UA is going through the same thing. There just aren't enough skilled welders or young people that are interested and dedicated enough to become skilled welders.
16 empty tubes, a mushroom cloud, and its miller time. Ive heard that but I cant remember where. Must be a bangor thing.
What the hell is a red rooster? Bremerton sucks!
Nose, the guy that used to grind tungsten just retired a few months ago, he's a great guy he gave me my first body cooler, doing very well for a guy that grinded half a million pieces of 2%. I think we get our mirror finish tungsten from diamond ground products now.
Lastly, NOT a good idea to talk about jobs u did in the RC on the internet, even if it was 20 years ago. Might wanna edit your post before you end up in another NRRO audit.